Klaus stared at me with a gentle smile that was unlike him.
“Erica, I’m glad I made it here in time.”
He was wearing a black robe above his gray clothes.
There was a magic amplifying effect staff in his hand.
On the first glance, there were lots of spell cards inside of his robe.
“T-thank you very much, Klaus-sama……!”
“You seem fine……, hm?”
Klaus glanced at me and furrowed his eyebrows.
“……That’s right, Erica, you, why are you in a place like this?”
“It’s complicated. More than that, how did Klaus-sama know about this place?”
Pretty sure he was doing a top secret investigation with Edward-oniisama, right?
And even though the hidden passage was opened, this was the deepest part of the intricate cathedral.
I wondered how did he found this place.
To my question, Klaus glanced at my bag.
“I came pursuing Ann’s emergency Alarm.”
“Alarm……huh.”
I wondered if I brought it with me unintentionally.
No, at that time I didn’t put things in or out.
……By some chance, did Ann stuck the Alarm on me?
However, Ann didn’t have the chance to touch my bag.
(Aah! I see! When she shook hands with Tirnanog, did she put the magic in his hand!?)
Awesome.
Did she already called reinforcement at that time, assuming the possibility that Tirnanog and I couldn’t do this by ourselves?
Klaus was a skillful person who knocked out the monster Zaratan almost single-handedly.
As a reinforcement that appeared in a situation like this, no one more reliable than him.
“I thought Ann was involved in something dangerous. Because it’s about Ann, I need to be quick.”
“I-I’m terribly sorry about that.”
“When I said that my sister is in danger, that Edward immediately let me out of the investigation. It was humiliating that the other investigator looked at me as if seeing the same kind……what’s with this harmful rumor.”
Both of them loved their younger sister, I wondered if they understood each other in that aspect.
It might have been fortunate for me that the head investigator was Edward-oniisama.
Klaus came here because a lot of good fortune and people’s kindness were intertwined.
He wouldn’t have been on time if the situation was a little different.
I grabbed the hem of Klaus’ robe in reflex and stared at him.
“Klaus-sama……I’m really glad you came……”
Something resembling nervousness ran through Klaus’ expression for a moment.
He turned away curtly with a shaky appearance.
“Hm, thank Edward for that.”
Oops, if I held the hem, it would be hard to fight.
I hurriedly let go of Klaus’ robe.
“But, I want to avoid fighting monsters while protecting you, and although I want us to escape immediately……Erica, is the unconscious girl over there your acquaintance?”
“Eh, unconscious girl……”
The only one who was unconscious was Auguste, what did he mean by that?
Aah, I see.
Klaus hadn’t met Auguste yet, huh.
It seemed that he mistook him as a female because of his long hair and seemingly delicate appearance.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Then we can’t abandon her. Especially since she is a friend of my friend.”
Yosh, he misunderstood and now we were going to rescue Auguste.
I didn’t say a lie.
I just hid the truth and tricked him.
“Klaus-sama. Let’s do our best to help that person!”
“Erica, you still have no sense of danger as ever.”
“Yes, Ann-sama also said that.”
“You don’t have such crisis management ability, then why are you stuck in a dangerous situation again……I want to ask questions, but I will do it later. That monster obviously will not wait for us.”
Klaus held up his staff and took out two new spell cards.
On the other side across the Protective Circle, Palug was laughing in delight.
『Well, how lovely. Such a little knight.
I am envious. I also want a cool boy saying ‘I will protect you’ to me.
But—』
Palug swung her claws vertically and horizontally.
Cross-shaped scratches were made in the Protective Circle that was set in front of me.
In an instant, the spell cards on that area were destroyed and burned out.
『You are a poisonous sight for my soul, so I will have you disappear.』
Klaus hurriedly launched additional spell cards and strengthened the spell by casting something.
“What’s with this monster……”
“She is a phantom beast, an angel, a lion, and a guardian beast, a man-eating monster who can grant any wishes.”
“What’s with that. Whatever, you can talk about that later.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Instead, explain why exactly that the remains resembling the monster Zaratan are wriggling over there.”
The one thing that shouldn’t be exposed the most, got exposed.
Why.
I wanted to lie, but it was impossible, so I had to speak honestly.
“Klaus-sama, you said I can do whatever I like with it, right?”
“I thought that you would like to bury it, I didn’t think you would actually unseal it!”
While speaking, Klaus gradually made the Protective Circle thicker.
There were five, six, seven layers……no, eight layers on the thickest part.
“Klaus-sama, wouldn’t it better to turn them into offensive power?”
“Aah, this Protective Circle is strong against mental attack, but has low defense power.”
“Is this a different set of spell cards from before?”
“This one is more than 800 years old. I don’t know why, but if we’re talking about mental attack only, it seems that the old spell cards are stronger.”
As he said, the moving speed of these spell cards were somewhat slower that the ones in the Ruins of Visitor.
Speaking of 800 years ago, that was when vampires were still around.
Perhaps it was to protect themselves from magic such as fascination and mind control.
“But, nevertheless, right now wouldn’t the modern ones with high physical defense or thermal protection better?”
“This area is the center of the mental interference that is covering the Kingdom, you know?”
“Ah……”
“Good grief. It’s truly enviable to be insensitive to this kind of attack.”
Speaking of which, due to Auguste’s mental interference, people with low magic defense couldn’t even move, while people with high magic defense wouldn’t get close to the cathedral.
Even if Klaus could come here, he was fine thanks to this old Protective Circle which was superior in mental defense.
“Since that is the case……Erica, unwillingly, I need your power.”
“Yes!”
“I will rely on you to attack. Do you have the wands for that?”
“What about Klaus-sama?”
“I will concentrate on defense. If there is a chance I will also attack, but do not expect too much.”
“Yes.”
I chose the wands while adjusting the angle of the bag so that Tirnanog who was inside couldn’t be seen by Klaus.
But, what kind of attack could we do to a monster who knocked Tirnanog down with a single blow?
……No, I couldn’t be timid.
Even if she was a formidable enemy that was beyond the standard, I had to at least try to win with all my power.
『Hm~? Are you done? Can I interrupt the eyesore couple soon?』
Palug, who was considerately waiting for us adjusting our postures, said so while stifling a yawn.
At first glance she seemed to be unmotivated, but she had no gap that could be exploited.
When I was bewildered on how to proceed, Klaus advanced a few steps to shield me.
“Sorry for making you wait, monster. I will be your opponent. Bring it on.”
『My, my.
Well, I am impressed by your words.
Since I am being invited by a cool and lovely boy, I will have to accept and enjoy myself a plenty.』
As Palug said so slowly, she put strength on her feet in a half-step forward position.
Klaus stuck his staff out in determination and activated the amplification ability put in the staff.
His staff was not the expensive one like when we went into the Ruins of Visitor, instead it was a mass-produced general staff like those of the mages in the tournament venue.
Still, a great mage did not blame his staff, and even if I was an amateur I could feel the overwhelming increase in magical power in him.
As soon as I thought that, the chunk of that magical power was instantaneously scattered.
“Ehh!?”
Klaus’ staff was breaking from the middle of its axis.
There was a golden hair-covered hand that was squeezing the staff.
Palug who was in a place more than 10 meters just a moment ago, and was supposedly being blocked by the Protective Circle, suddenly stood between me and Klaus.
Certainly, the spell cards didn’t completely cover us.
But, she shouldn’t be able to slip through the countless spell cards that were flying around us at high speed.
The humanoid lion laughed innocently.
『Don’t do that. Aiming such dangerous things to a girl.』
“Idiot……!”
Klaus had a startled expression but immediately released the crushed staff from his hand and drew out additional spell cards.
A spark of magical power scattered between his hand and the hand of Palug.
Klaus had blocked the red hot claws of Palug with Protective Circle.
The barely cast spell cards became ashes in the hands of Klaus and the other spell cards were scattered all over the floor.
Palug made her other hand to be clad in flames and attacked Klaus with it.
Sparks flickered many times between them like a light.
Each time, several of Klaus’ spell cards were destroyed.
If the battle continued like this, the Protective Circle would lost.
I rushed out quicker than they could notice.
The defense was quickly becoming worn out.
I went around to the side of Palug and swung an offensive wand.
From this position, Klaus wouldn’t be hit.
Bullets made of pure magical power were fired from the magic circle surrounding the Wand of Magic Missile.
To make them harder to avoid, I aimed at different places and rapid-fired five bullets.
However, Palug dodged them easily without even looking this way.
“Well done!”
I couldn’t get a hit on Palug, but the hands that were doing close combat became lax slightly.
It seemed that it was enough for Klaus.
Turning the situation around, Klaus swung his fist that were wrapped in spell cards while Palug was the one on defense.
Especially intense white light of a magic circle burst out.
When the light dimmed, the left hand of Palug who blocked Klaus’ fist was covered with thick frost.
The magic of Freeze was suppressing the nails of flame.
Klaus lunged with the same attack.
Palug avoided the attack with a back step.
I was shooting Magic Missiles toward Palug who was trying to get away.
Klaus also sent out the spell cards that were used for defense to attack and caught up with her.
My attack, which was aimed at the moment of unprotected landing, missed due to the fact that Palug didn’t come down to the landing point.
She was jumping again with Klaus’ spell cards which arrived in an instant as her foothold.
We aimed toward Palug who was in the air, but they were intercepted and erased by her right claw.
Her bright red dress fluttered as Palug landed elegantly.
『Good grief, even though I don’t want to waste my remaining power.』
Palug put power into her right hand.
When flame burst out of her frost-covered left hand, the frost evaporated instantly and disappeared.
It was not a direct damage, but we succeeded in wasting some of her power.
But, how much more could we cut down?
Gradually, I became frustrated.
I was also concerned about the burden of Klaus who had been in a bewildering close combat with Palug.
Right now, he had to have received lots of shock.
How much of his magical power, which was continuously used to maintain a thick Protective Circle, was remaining?
“Klaus-sama, can you still go on?”
“Aah, this is nothing. You must have one or two trump cards left, right?”
“Yes.”
“We will decide the victory on the next move. Use it. I will give you a little time.”
Saying so, Klaus launched the spell cards with different magic than the Protective Circle.
